The following episode is from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Cædmon (657‑684) has traditionally been considered the first English poet from whom a poem has survived. The sole source of information on Cædmon’s life is recorded in Bede’s book. According to Bede, Cædmon was an illiterate herdsman, employed on a monastic landed estate near Whitby Abbey. His only known surviving work is Cædmon’s Hymn, a nine‑line alliterative vernacular in Old English. The poem is one of the earliest examples of Old English, earlier than Beowulf, an epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend composed around the ninth century. It must be noted that Bede devoted his life to chronicling the development of Christianity in England from Roman times to his day. All that he wrote in the book had an overriding religious intent. In this dramatic account, therefore, Cædmon’s sudden capability of singing a song in praise of

下面这则故事节选自比德的《英吉利教会史》。
凯德蒙（657‑684）历来被看作第一位有诗作留存下来的英国诗人。有关凯德蒙生平的唯一资料就记载在比德的这本书中。
据比德记述，凯德蒙原本是目不识丁的牧人，受雇于惠特比修道院附近一处教会地产。他现存唯一作品是《凯德蒙颂歌》，一首九行的古英语头韵诗。这首诗是现存最早的古英语作品之一，早于史诗《贝奥武夫》，属于日耳曼英雄传说传统的史诗。
值得注意的是，比德毕生记录英格兰基督教从罗马时代到他所处时代的发展历程。他书中所有文字都带有浓厚的宗教意图。因此，在这段生动的记述中，凯德蒙突然拥有歌唱赞美……